Plessy v.s. Ferguson & Jim Crow Laws
Janay Pegues
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow law, in U.S. history, is essentially any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950s.
- A landmark supreme court decision that upheld the constitutonality of racial segregation in public facilities under the "seperate but equal doctrine".
- Plessy challenged the law under the state of Louisiana.
- Prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than those to which they had been assigned on the basis of their race.
- "Seperate but equal" doctrine was applied to Louisiana's laws regarding railroad trains.
Louisiana Seperate Cart Act - 1890
Homer Adolph Plessy - Plaintiff
- On June 7th, 1892 the plaintiff, Homer Adolph Plessy, refused to remove himself from a designated train carriage car that was for white people only, and he also refused to sit in the train cart that was designated for blacks.
- Argued that the statue of "seperate but equal" violated the equal protection clause that was embedded in the 14th amendment.
14th-Amendment Equal Protection Clause
- The 14th amendment equal protection clause entails that no state shall deny to any person within' it's jurisdiction equal protection of the laws
14th-Amendment Equal Protecti...
Judge John H. Ferguson - Defendant
- Judge Ferguson represented the Criminal Court of New Orleans, and argued against Plessy, by stating that the "seperate but equal" doctrine didn't merely challenge the 14th amendment, equal protection clause.
Judge John H. Ferguson - Defendant
Final Decision
- Plessy v. Ferguson, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, on May 18, 1896, by a seven-to-one majority (one justice did not participate), advanced the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.
- "Seperate but equal" doctrine was then overturned in the Brown v.s Board of Education case.
Plessy v.s Ferguson video
The Impact of Plessy v.s. Ferguson
Plessy v.s. Ferguson was the first case to challenge racial segregation in Louisiana.
This case allowed the 'seperate but equal' doctrine to become legal in the United States.
Bibliography
Bibliography
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj54KP16Ilw
http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/interactive_constitution/scc/scc29.htm
https://www.timetoast.com/categories/7
https://www.britannica.com/event/Plessy-v-Ferguson-1896